Press Release

For Immediate Release

Dec. 3, 2003

VERMONT MEDICAL SOCIETY TO OPPOSE ALL LAWS ON PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

Montpelier, Vt. -- The Vermont Medical Society will oppose any laws concerning physician-assisted suicide in its testimony before the Vermont Legislature, the VMS Council decided at a special meeting held Dec. 2.

In taking the action, the Council was acting in its capacity as the policy setting body for the VMS in the interval between annual membership meetings. By a vote of 20-2, the Council adopted a resolution which was submitted by Marilyn Hart, M.D., and Denise Niemira, M.D., at the society’s annual meeting held Oct. 17. The resolution updates and continues the society’s long-standing position that there should be no laws concerning physician-assisted suicide.

Members present at the annual meeting decided that the resolution would be put to a mail-in vote by all 1,500 voting members of the society. The resolution was supported by an overwhelming margin of 522-175 in vote results announced Nov. 12. The resolution won the backing of 74 percent of the members voting on that question. Slightly more than half of the VMS voting membership participated in the mail-in ballot.

While the resolution opposing any laws concerning physician-assisted suicide passed resoundingly, a separate resolution stating that the society should take a position of neutrality on the physician-aid-in-dying issue also passed by a slight margin of 348-340. Many members afterwards indicated that they found the ballot confusing, particularly the lack of definition of the term physician-aid-in-dying.

“The Council's decision makes it clear that the VMS continues to believe there should be no laws concerning physician-assisted suicide and that the society in no way endorses euthanasia,” said VMS Executive Vice President Paul Harrington. “As a result of the action, this policy supersedes any contradictory earlier VMS policy on physician-assisted suicide and settles any lingering confusion over the vote on two separate resolutions last month.”

Many Council members said that the overwhelming support the Hart-Niemira resolution received in the membership ballot means that it should be the position that carries. “The Council felt it was important to speak with a single voice on the issue,” said Harrington. “From the vote it appears that many physicians agree with Dr. Robert Backus who recently wrote, ‘end-of-life is by its natural design a personal affair, a private one between the healer and the patient. This care does not need, nor will it benefit from, the intercession of the courts, the legislature, or the insurance industry.’”

The policy adopted by the VMS Council also makes it clear that society members actively endorse improving palliative care, including using state-of-the-art pain and symptom control. Vermont communities have active Hospice programs, but more terminally-ill patients should take advantage of the care provided by those programs. VMS members will continue to work together with nurses, family counselors and pastoral support to aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life.

The Vermont Medical Society has been providing services to Vermont physicians for more than 200 years. As a proactive member organization, VMS represents the interests of physicians and advocates on their behalf.